WWE 2K22 review: Now THAT'S more like it

A couple of days ago, we shared some of our early impressions of WWE 2K22. Since then, we've had the opportunity to dive even further into the game further and - now that the game is available to purchase, We decided this is the perfect time to submit our final verdict.

WWE 2K22 will make you forget WWE 2K20 ever happened

Anyone who has played WWE 2K20 would undoubtedly be concerned about the quality of this new release. After all the title had plenty of issues holding it back. In fact so many problems that 2K Games halted production of WWE 2K21 in order to right the ship. The question is, did it help?

We already said a lot in our piece yesterday, and we're not going to rehash that here. So, we're not going to dive deep into every mode WWE 2K22 has to offer. But there's still plenty to be said about this game - and plenty to get excited about. Let's get right to the point, though.

Is it a good game?

Hell yeah, it's a good game.

WWE 2K22 isn't just a drastic improvement over the title that came before it. It's probably the best WWE title since WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain. There's not only a ton of things to do in this game but, most importantly, it's polished.

One of the biggest gripes about WWE 2K20 was the fact that it was just riddled with bugs and glitches. All WWE games in the past have had their share of technical issues, but 2K20 took things to a whole other level. In WWE 2K22, things run much more smoothly. If you do come across something malfunctioning as you play, it more than likely involves the online servers.

That's not to say you won't run into a glitch or two here and there - but they're nowhere near as prevalent as they were previously.

Let's go into what we consider to be the weakest part of the game - the controls.

This isn't to say that the controls are bad - far from it, actually. Visual Concepts rearranged the control scheme from the previous game, making the strike buttons more important and incorporating combos. Well, sort of. We think. It's hard to tell.

Look, the important thing here is that the controls are easy to get used to, just as the controls for the previous games were. From what we can tell, however, they aren't exactly *intuitive.* We're probably missing something but, if you have to take a deep dive into the control scheme just to get everything out of it, it's probably not as good as you think it is.

That being said, it still controls just fine and isn't a hindrance to enjoying the rest of the game.

The game's difficulty is interesting. There's your usual - Easy, Normal, Hard, and Legend. We've played matches on both Easy and Normal and, if you're looking for a decent "real-life" match experience, Normal is the way to go. In Normal mode, attacking your opponent isn't difficult, but one small mistake can give them the advantage over you. Thankfully, when that happens, WWE 2K22 gives you plenty of opportunities to recover and regain the upper hand.

You don't hear this a lot, but WWE 2K22's "Normal" mode? It's extremely fair. It's just challenging enough if you're fairly new to the series or just getting used to the new controls. Easy mode tends to feel cheap, but it's also fine if you're just looking to have fun and move stories along in Universe or MyRISE mode. We can only imagine that the other modes are just as balanced, but we're not gonna lie, we haven't hit those yet.

Let's touch on MyFACTION before we wrap things up. This is the mode of the game that involves microtransactions and the like. Thankfully, said microtransactions are limited to just the MyFACTION mode. So, if that's not something you're into, you can ignore it altogether, and there's still plenty in the game to keep you busy and happy.

We played through some of MyFACTION and, while we get the appeal, it didn't really do much for us. It's fun, for sure, but it's its own thing.

All in all, WWE 2K22 is a hell of a wrestling game. It certainly hasn't reinvented the genre, and it has its issues, but in general? This is a pretty damn good WWE game. The Deluxe Edition is worth picking up, as the upcoming DLC has a ton of pretty awesome new entries (including one of my all-time favorites, LA Knight aka Eli Drake), and the Deluxe Edition comes with the season pass that gives you access to all of them.

We have no idea if WWE is going to stick with 2K Games after this release - EA certainly has the name value and money to throw around if they're determined to get the license - but 2K and Visual Concepts have put out a game that both should be extremely proud of.

Does it "hit different?" Not really. But it, without a doubt, hits better. Much better.

WWE 2K22 is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and PC.